Recall an Email In Gmail

9 October 2011 Posted By Guru

It has happened to many of us and many of the time where after sending an email we regret that “Why did I send that email” and we wish as if I could get back that email. This type of incident is very common as most of the time we send the email to a wrong person. If you are using MS Outlook there is a functionality to recall the by mistakenly send email, that means if the recipient has not read the e-mail yet then you can call the email back so that the recipient won’t be able to read the email.

But think if you are using Gmail then how to recall an email? So for that there is a very nice solution provided by Gmail Lab called “Undo Send”. This feature works like the recall email in outlook.

 

So how do you recall an email in Gmail?

If you have enabled the Undo Send feature for your Gmail account, then Gmail will show you a yellow notification box with an Undo button every time you send an email. Just click on that Undo button and your job is done, the email is recalled.

 

How to Enable Recall Feature in Gmail

To enable recall feature in Gmail you need to enable the Undo Send in Gmail labs. To enable it log in to your gmail and click on the geared icon and then click on Labs. Search for the Undo Send and enable it. Now you have enabled the recall feature in Gmail.

Gmail - Settings

 
How to use the recall or Undo Send feature

 Every time after sending the email, you can see an undo link at the top of the page, click on it and your message will not be sent. This will take you to the email composer page. That is how you do recall an email in Gmail.

undo in gmail

  • Kiran

    I like it.. was looking for this feature in gmail.. Thanks for the nice tip..

  • Mlivneh

    I must be hallucinating, but if this is really there as describe, only an einstein IQ can find it

  • Reshma Kumari

    but this undo button dissppear in 5 seconds

  • Mickey59

    unable to find a “labs” tab

    • Guru

      Please check it once again. It is available for all.

      • Glencindy

        I do not have a labs tab either

        • Kye

          Gear symbol -> settings -> labels

          • Wolf

            it’s not “labels” it is “labs” different function

  • Ivana

    I enabled it however I cannot locate it…..please help…in addition, does it work on hte message sent several hours ago?

    • mariafaria

      No, the undo button only lasts for a few seconds (5-10 sec).

      • Amos

        you have option to select 5,10,20,30 seconds for the UNDO feature to remain by clicking on SETTINGS and setting it up under GENERAL in below optionUndo Send:Enable Undo Send
        Send cancellation period: 5102030 seconds

    • ASHU

      GIVE ME YOUR MAIL ID I WILL TELL YOU BY TAKING THE SNAP SHOTS

      • ken

        someone help cant do anything to recall an email

  • scott peterson

    it’s very handy if you catch it before it disappears. I guess there’s no way to recall an unread email say a few hours after you’ve sent it though and moved on to other emails, right? Otherwise, thanks for the tip!

    scott
    http://www.pagelogic.com

  • Robbie H Ellis

    after you have sent the email, then you install the Retrieve feature, can you then recall the email that you sent PRIOR to installing the recall feature?

    • Guru

      Unfortunately NO. If you have not enabled the feature then it is not possible to recall it.

  • Adrian

    Thanks Guru ! Appreciate your post Guess there is no way to do that ! If there is please let me know> Cheers Adrian

    • mariafaria

      The reason you only have a few seconds to recall the message is that it’s likely that the receiver would have opened it. If it happened, there is no point in trying to recover the message, right? So far, I haven’t found a way to know if the message was opened or not, as you can do with outlook, for example.

  • Nlcrowley50

    Hey there…for people that are having a difficult time finding the “Lab” button it’s under the gear icon/settings/lab…Just FYI.

  • Jenny

    wut about unsending emails from a long time ago?

    • Guru

      Sorry.. You can not unsend for long time ago emails. Gmail does not support that feature yet.

  • http://peoplestring-review.weebly.com/bigstring-recall-email-review.html Curt

    For emails I’ve considered as possibly wanting to unsend at some time in the future I’ve used Bigstring to masquerade my gmail accounts allowing me to create self-destructing and recallable email (email I can configure to expire at a certain date/time, by number of views, or at will). Unfortunately, I don’t think Bigstring accepts signups any longer – at least I can’t find a new registration link that works. I do have free signups available for similar service though which accomplishes the same thing if any one is interested. It’s useful for email you send as recallable and works with any existing email accounts (gmail, hotmail, yahoo, live, etc.). It’s about the only reasonable unsend feature work around I’ve found.
    If you’re interested – drop me a line through my contacify link: http://www.contactify.com/ca515

  • angel

    thanx fr the info!!

  • James

    Max recall time 30 seconds? Almost totally useless feature..even if you can configure it to work. I don’t see any obvious recall button even when I’ve enabled the undo feature.

  • me

    just tried it on myself. Brilliant! thanks!

  • Salome Sato

    what if I sent it before clicking the undo…is there any recall still?

    • Melany

      I have the same problem

  • musiclover_555

    I wish they can make the recall longer. Good job Gmail!

  • Shamia Irving

    Oh ok. It works but the only way it would’ve been helpful is to discover this post before I created/sent the email I wanted to recall…that way I would’ve had it enabled and I would’ve been able to click it within the nano second that it stays on the screen…. I hope this is a “lab experiment” they decide to use for primetime!!!!!

    • CantUndoAfterLater

      Im with you on that one, also had the same problem. pretty useless after the fact

  • Alex

    Thanks for the information; it is useful to know, but to be honest I think this has convinced me to give up on Gmail. If this is the best service they can provide, I am just not sure it is good enough.

  • http://www.johnfbarossjr.com/ John F BaRoss Jr

    Think about how almost useless this limited recall functionality is. It only serves a sender if they virtually- instantly realize they shouldn’t have sent the email. However, a more typical use case is a sender who after sending discovers a problem with the email (body, distribution list, etc.). Sure, this means upfront proofing was not sufficient … but it happens. Too bad with gmail. By the time one recognizes this more typical scenario, it is too late to use this recall feature. That’s the best Google can do?

  • uday kiran

    The recall option in outlook we can use until the receiver didn’t read the message.
    But undo is working only for few seconds after sending the mail.If we navigate to other page or inbox, the option will no longer available.

    Please correct me if I am wrong.
    Give me an alternate solution if I am correct.

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